is in the storm center with the very latest on earl. >> we've been tracking this thing for days on end. now it's moving away from maryland. hey take a lookout there. we can see the deeper convection with the system actually getting smaller now. the storm has weakened through the day category 1 storm. winds sustained at 81 miles per hour. those hurricane watches and tropical storm warnings have been dropped for maryland delaware and new jersey they extends up into new new england like cape cod. now the bigger concern is going to shift north as we look to places like basically massachusetts even long island could get in on some of this action, but the bottom line is we're looking much better now as the storm continues to pull away and 180 miles plus off of ocean city will be more than

200 miles away. we'll have much more on this and your weekend outlook much cooler coming up rosie. tonight folks down in ocean city in north carolina are breathing a sigh of relief while up in new england they are holding their breath as hurricane earl moves up the coast. >> reporter: as north carolina says good-bye to earl it's preparing to say hello to thousands of forrists. >> we want to thank the people of north carolina who stood up and did what we asked them to do. >> reporter: the evacuations began when earl was a category 4 hurricane with strong enough winds to shred an american flag and throw a boat against the south carolina pier. but before earl moved near the outer banks it was downgraded to a category 2 storm. now earl's been downgraded

again to category 1. >> we dodged a bullet purely and simply. >> reporter: the rest of the eastern seaboard hopes for the same stroke of luck. >> the public should continue to take precautions in particular stay indoors and off the roads during the height of the storm. exercise extreme caution this afternoon during the time when the winds begin to pick up. >> reporter: massachusetts has declared a state of emergency. there are 35 fema trailers packed with emergency supplies ready to roll if earl hits. and from virginia to maine hundreds of miles of beaches now face heavy surf from this labor day weekend traveler still on the move. north carolina's governor says it appears easterly caused no major injuries, no major damages. in atlantic beach now, emily smith abc news. now for a look at tonight's top stories down at the ocean things are starting to get back to normal for the neighborhood weekend. hurricane earl brushed by the coast of maryland early this

morning causing high winds and crashing surf it's now a category 1 hurricane as it moves off the coast of new england. a sigh of relief along the gulf coast tonight a coast guard cutter patrolling the area around the platform fire is not reporting any signs of leaks. the platform owner says it doesn't know what caused that fire. detectives in baltimore city are investigating a deadly shooting from late last night. officers were called to the 500 block of eastlynne avenue and southwest baltimore. a 30 year-old woman was killed two other victims including a 14-year-old boy are expected to survive. police believe the shooting stemmed from a drug dispute but no suspects yet. an accident involving a how ward county police officer sent three people to the hospital yesterday evening south of the howard carol county line. a police cruiser hit a ford van then hit a chevy tahoe. all three drivers are expected

to be okay. the cause is still under investigation. stocks are finishing the day with solid gains after the latest jobless numbers provided a glimmer of hope for the weak committee economy. private employers hired more workers than expected over the past 3 months. verizon announced a prepaid plan for customers who don't want contracts wireless provider is offering a 30- dollar a month unlimited plan for smartphone users there's a 10-dollar a month plan. the prepaid plans will be available starting september 28th. we are just two days, two days folks away from catching beaver fever at the maryland state fair. thousands of tweens and parents will head out on sunday to see justin bieber in concert. imagine that. the show sold out minutes after the tickets went on sale.

you need to get wrist bands for the show you can pick those up beginning at 8:00 sunday morning. waves of relief sweeping across ocean city. they are ready to enjoy the calm after the storm. if you're traveling a little farther than the beach be on the lookout for the latest add on fee in the air. currently university of delaware it is 80 degrees. wyatt has the complete forecast minus earl coming up. that's going to go right in your glove. ohhh. oh. see that? great job. ok, now let's get ready for the ball... here it comes... here you go.

good catch. perfect! alright now for the best part. let's see your pour. ohhh...let's get those in the bowl. these are way too good to waste, right? oh, yea. let's go for it... around the bowl and... [ male announcer ] share what you love... with who you love. mmmmm. kellogg's frosted flakes®... they're g-r-r-reat!™ good catch, dad. [ laughs ]

as a career prosecutor i made decisions on facts not politics. in washington, i'm trying to do the same. that's why i voted to crackdown on wall street and protect the bay. and why i voted against the $3 trillion budget, the big bank bailout, and against the health care bill. you see for me it's not about democrats or republicans it's about common sense and doing what's best for our families. maybe that's why i'm ranked one of the most independent members of congress. i'm frank kratovil and i approve this message.

a ocean city is looking to get things back to normal for thousands and thousands of labor day vacationers. joce sterman has been hanging out with earl in oc she's live to tell us what the tourists are doing after earl is long gone. >> reporter: people are showing up o think earl who. one thing you can see for sure are these tidal pools they got pretty deep at noon as the

waves started rushing in. this crud along to see wall you can sea how high the water actually got. the tidal pools and rough dirt that's all you can see from earl. people here are ready to put this whole thing behind them. they want to match on with their behind weekend as for earl they have got two words, good riddance. in ocean city labor day weekend is your chance to get that last taste of summer. through at thrashers on the boardwalk a little storm named earl means there aren't as many people looking for a pilot. up and down the boardwalk business owners and vacationers are both ready to give earl the boot so they can get back to celebrating the last break for summer. >> i'm sure people will be out and about. >> reporter: you know what's not fun buying a house in the middle of this mess. amy was supposed to be that today. >> everything got canceled. >> reporter: she pushed back appointments and. >> it was a little bit of a

disappointment. we had our agenda scheduled for today houses planned to see, but we're going to enjoy the wind, enjoy the warmth, enjoy the environment and hope to look at it tomorrow. >> reporter: lifeguards here in ocean city got off the clock at 5:30 today. we almost immediately saw people go right into the water. we want to make it clear though the beach is not open for swimmers at this moment. ocean city beach patrol wants to emphasize these waters are very dangerous you should not be going in especially not when lifeguards are not here to protect you. that's one of the most dangerous times here in oty city. they have a lot of incidents they have to get people offshore back into the water to rescue people. they are not always going to have a lot of time. do not depo into the water if the lifeguards are not here you should heed that warning from the beach patrol. as when you'll be able to get into the water. the beach patrol is trying to figure that out. luckily they don't have to plan long in advance. they can make a snap decision tomorrow and decide whether or not they will let you into the its was. we'll talk about that decision

coming up tonight at 6:00. live in ocean city joce sterman. the latest airline add on fees and what you need to know so you don't waste your money.

. we continue our coverage democracy 2010 as we present to you another one of the candidates running for office in our area. it's a chance for all of us to learn more about each candidate before the primaries on september 14th. jamie costello sits down with raymond adkins a candidate for congress in maryland's second district. >> reporter: joining me now is raymond adkins thank you for coming in. what do you see as the single most important issue facing the nation right now. >> we have several issues that are critical. first, our economic situation

and the deficit. second, the taxes, and probably the most important one is the situation in terms of jobs and our lack of jobs and unemployment situation. it's crucial that we address this as a foundation and really start to try simulate some growth, particularly in the second congressional district where we have a severe problem, and it runs to every element of the second congressional district. beyond that the taxing situation has become so severe that it's literally limiting the growth. small businesses are being strangled, and they really are the foundation of our economic situation here in the second congressional district. >> what will you do in office to affect the greatest change improving the quality of life for your constituents. >> well, my intent is to

promote legislation that will enable growth within the second congressional district and to get federal funding to give us some support to do so. we have a beautiful waterfront. we have an infrastructure of railways that are under used, and we have a great deal of property that could be converted into literally productive stimulating growth, and there's no reason why this hasn't been done and can't be done. also, maryland has a problem because employers have been scared away from maryland, and we have to make an effort to really get some kind of attention to making it comfortable for businesses. >> what are the major assets that you bring to this office? >> i was prosecutor. i've been an attorney for 30 years. my approach to any problem is

literally to use common sense, and i've represented people the same way i'll represent the second congressional district. these people, their interests are my concern, and only my concern. >> what is the single most important message that you would like to convey to the voter. >> if elected, i will devote my complete interest and concern to my constituents, not special interests. i will be independent, and will look towards promoting their objectives and not my own. >> what is the one thing voters don't already know about you that they should. >> well, i'm 6'8". i have four beautiful children who came through baltimore county school system. i know every part of baltimore

county. we have a very diverse area in the second congressional district and i promise to use all of my talents working with both sides of the aisles in order to promote some kind of important economic development as opposed to expanding the taxing and expanding the government. >> all right. you've been listening to a candidate running for congress in the second district raymond adkins thank you for watching democracy 2010. good to see earl just go by. >> yeah. absolutely rosie. want to see earl get out of here for the 3 day weekend. a lot of people with plans to the beach. weather really looking up. looking much better. >> i actually saw some sun a

few minutes ago. >> sun beginning to come through. all the clouds we had today were from earl even in the baltimore area. sunshine back rosie cooler day windier day tomorrow. ocean city our abc 2 storm tracker. we've got 80 now in the wake of the storm gusting to 27 at that particular site. we did get a gust at oc public safety to 41. so some pretty intense wind at time. we're still seeing a steady wind at the beach west southwest 15, 17 ocean city airport back across the route 50 bridge into west ocean city. there gusted to 30 today. some gusty winds and big waves. misdemeanor's most powerful radar right now we track the circulation as it moved off of maryland earlier dark earlier this morning. this is just the last 6 hours. you can see the last rain bands pulling out i'd say 2:00, 3:00 this afternoon we got rid of

the last of the rain we saw on delmarva. our satellite view shows this storm as so often happens with these atlantic coast hurricanes picking up a lot of speed and weakening as we get into these cooler waters here not just off of delaware and maryland but off of jersey and this storm now racing up toward picking up speed towards cape cod. there we still do have a hurricane threat, although the storm will be close to a tropical storm by the time it passes off of the new england coast if not down to a tropical storm. right now winds still to 80. that's still a solid category one storm. 180 miles east of ocean city right now. beach forecast if you're headed that way mid-70s. windy day saturday. surf's going to stay up 4 to 6 feet. we'll look for improving sea conditions and better swimming sunday into labor day monday. still that hurricane warning up for maritime subpoena. a couple of counties in massachusetts may get glanced

by a high enough winds. you see some of the model tracks bring it pretty close in to cape cod. this boundary coming in out of the north and west, this is our cool front really an early taste of autumn behind this. we're talking 70s tomorrow windy conditions and we'll see some clouds mixed with sun and more sunshine into sunday and monday but that is a much cooler airmass coming down the pike in the wake of earl, as that gets in here we'll look for skies to clear off tomorrow afternoon. by tomorrow night as that cooler air settled in we'll be down into the mid 50s. some of the outlying areas, western maryland upper 40s sunday morning on of my floor crew loves to hear. 65, partly cloudy skies 78 clear and sunny. quite breeds breezy tomorrow.

here's the trend we're looking at sunny weekend. we get rid of the wind on sunday. 84 on monday. we get a surge of heat in the middle of next week a couple days worth but we'll be up close to 90 tuesday and wednesday. by now all air travelers know that you have to be on the lookout for those add-on fees especially for badge, but tonight we have the latest travel tips so you don't waste your money. >> reporter: airline passengers are being hit with all sorts of new fees these days checked bag fees blanket fees pillow fees carry on fees. the latest have you heard a fee to reserve your seat. diana was recently thrilled to find a great deal on airtran. when she nicked to book her ticket she found an additional seat reservation fee. >> any seat from the middle of the plane up to not including

first class was anywhere from 13 to $15 a seat. >> just to book it? >> just to book your seat. >> reporter: airtran has recently added a small fee to reserve a seat unless you wait till the last minute. >> if you go in 24 hours prior to your departure, you can select your seats and there is no charge. >> reporter: but she and her husband won't get good seats if they wait that long. >> you run the risk of not sitting together, or you're back by the bathrooms. >> reporter: we found an airtran flight in dayton ohio to fort lauderdale for $161. but to reserve a seat you have to pay an extra $12 round trip for the back of the plane, $30 for the front half of the plane or $40 for an exit row and it's spreading. spirit airlines has a similar fee on some flights while southwest which has open seating now charges if you

wants to prereserve. so far none of the major carriers have added airtran fees, but american has just begun charging to reserve premium seats near the front of the plane and other airlines are beginning to charge for exit rows. so keep your eyes open for more surprise fees so you don't waste your monday. a preview what's ahead on world news tonight at 6:30. we're watching earl and dramatic flooding pictures. the whistle blower speaking out about tainted eggs what they saw and what they warned about. did you notice the woman who stole the show at the emmys? she's our person of the week.

. usually water is used to put out a fire but a west virginia family their water actually catch fire. they smell natural gas as crews dug a well in their yard. it also got to be in the water because they literally can light the water on fire. the gas company has taken samples officials don't results yet. hey y'all look at this. newborn twin giant pandas made their debut in a zoo in japan today. the brother and sister were born last month. they are cute. visitors will be able to check out the panda twins twice a day every day beginning tomorrow. japan had only 9 pandas in captivity until the twins were born. very cool. researchers say the key to slowing down alzheimer's disease starts in the library not in the doctor's office. abc 2 news at 6:00 starts right

now. hurricane earl moving away from maryland tonight. earl has weakened to a category 1 and it's the calm after the storm down at the shore. i'm kelly swoope that comes much to the relief of vacationers and tourism officials. josie s joins us live with what impact it had on folks they are just enjoying their plans now. >> reporter: that's right kelly, they are enjoying themselves. we've seen the highs and lows here in ocean city. we had rough winds rough surf water coming up towards the sea wall at noon today. that moved out at about 4:00 and these people are so desperate to get into the water to get on the beach. people have started getting into the ocean even though they are not supposed to. if you look over here right now we've got ocean city police officers who are stepping towards the water itself just to go tell these people to get out. you are not supposed to be in the water right now. they are going in to tell them it's not safe for you to be boating not safe for you to be swimming. they are telling these